Onus now on states to meet O’Connor’s homelessness challenge

National Shelter media release — 14 November 2012

National housing peak National Shelter welcomes Minister O’Connor’s commitment to continue the National Partnership Agreement (NPA), on homelessness for the next year.

This commitment comes ahead of the Select Council of Housing Ministers meeting in Brisbane on Friday, and firmly puts the focus on state government to match this commitment to ending homelessness in Australia.

The Select Council is comprised of federal Minister Brendan O’Connor, and housing ministers from Australia’s states and territories.

National Shelter Chairperson, Adrian Pisarski, says that while significant investment has been made in affordable housing in recent years, it is important to commit to continued investment.

'Despite record spending from stimulus and NRAS, we fear the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) is overseeing the decline of affordable housing in Australia, particularly social housing', Mr Pisarski said.

'We are delighted to welcome the federal government’s commitment to continue funding the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness for another year, and encourage the state governments to meet this commitment.'

'This is significant given that earlier this week the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on the rise in the numbers of homeless people across Australia.'

At their last meeting in August, the Ministers wrote to the Standing Council on Federal Finance Relations indicating their interest in providing input into the review of the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA).

National Shelter welcomes this token, and calls on Ministers to commit to the future of affordable housing in Australia through a revised National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) that includes:

All programs that deliver more affordable housing, such as Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) and the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS)

An operational subsidy for affordable housing funded on a per-dwelling basis

An affordable housing growth fund allocated on a per-capita basis for the delivery of further affordable housing